"Upon reflection, I think my horse ran the best race of his career," Amoss said. "The slow pace was impossible for us to overcome and yet he still ran a very good race. I don't know where the rest of the speed went in yesterday's Preakness. It looked like there was quite a bit on paper, but it just didn't materialize."

Amoss said the son of Midnight Lute owned by GoldMark Farm and Whisper Hill Farm has earned a little bit of time off.

"As far as future plans, nothing is on the board right now," he said. "I'll get together with the owners at the beginning of the week and we'll discuss what to do. He's had two races close together and I think that's going to be taken into account when we have that conversation."

And Amoss saluted the winning trainer and jockey combination of Hall of Famers D. Wayne Lukas and Gary Stevens. Lukas, 77, won his record 14th Triple Crown race and Stevens, 50, earned his third Preakness just a few months after ending a seven-year retirement.

"It was a masterful job," Amoss said. "As far as Wayne is concerned, you've got to tip your hat to him. Over the last year he's made a remarkable comeback and put himself where he used to be, which is at the top of the trainers' charts."

Friday, May 17 -- Jockey Rosie Napravnik started her career in Maryland, rode her first winner at Pimlico and returns to Old Hilltop as one of the top stories of the 138th Preakness. The local favorite, now one of the leading riders in the country, followed Derby-winning trainer Shug McGaughey and winning jockey Joel Rosario to the podium for the Friday morning press conference at the Pimlico Stakes Barn.

"Preakness or not, I'm so excited to be home," she said. "I had a terrible trip coming in last night, but I was driving home at 11 o'clock just excited to be here. To come and ride the Preakness is really a dream come true. I'm really happy to be here."

Napravnik, 25, moved to trainer Holly Robinson's farm in Sparks, Baltimore County, in the summer of 2004 and started exercising horses. She won her career debut aboard Ringofdiamonds for trainer Dickie Small on June 9, 2005. Nearly eight years, another 1,543 wins and more than $49 million in purse earnings later, she is ready for her first ride in Maryland's signature race.

While most jockeys would call a Kentucky Derby victory the most important achievement, Napravnik said for her the Preakness is in the discussion.

"I would say they are head-and-head," she said. "The Derby would mean so much for my career and to so many people. The Preakness would really be a great personal accomplishment. I don't know which would be more exciting. I haven't won either yet, so I'll let you know when it happens."

Napravnik will be the third female rider in Preakness history and the first since Andrea Seefeldt finished seventh in 1994. At the press conference, she fielded a question about being a female rider.

"I guess it will always be asked. I'm glad to be here," she said. "I'm not doing this because I'm a girl. I'm not trying to win the race because I'm a female jockey. I just want to win the race."

The Preakness will be Napravnik's third ride on Mylute. They won an allowance race together at Fair Grounds in December and finished fifth in the Derby, 3 3/4 lengths behind Orb. Mylute, the 5-1 second choice on the morning line, drew the No. 5 post in the nine-horse field. Orb has the rail.

One of the first questions she was asked at the press conference was, "How do you beat Orb?"

"We followed him last time in the Derby," she said. "We do have a little bit of an outside advantage on him, We'll have to see how the race sets up and we'll have to move forward a couple of lengths. I do think that Mylute is moving forward."

Napravnik smiled at the follow-up: How good is Orb?"He seems like a very good horse and one that is moving forward, as well, but Mylute is definitely coming along, too," she said. "He's a little bit of a slow learner, but I think he's really waking up and improving as a race horse. He's really getting that competitive drive and he's got a powerful move."

Napravnik knows Pimlico and said it will suit Mylute's closing style.

"I think that this track is stereotypically called a speed-biased track, but, honestly, I've ridden on this track a million times and I really think that it's a fair track," she said. "I don't think it's going to be any disadvantage to us coming from behind and it's a very long stretch."

Still, she said that her familiarity with Pimlico does not give her a serious home-track advantage.

"Jockeys, in general, we adjust all the time to new tracks," she said. "I don't think it's such a huge deal, but obviously being very familiar with the track is probably an advantage. I've ridden this race course a million times and won plenty of races on it. At least for me, it's not something I have to get to know."

The Derby experience gave Napravnik a better understanding of how to handle Mylute on Saturday.

"A lot of people had said he broke bad, which is not true," she said. "He broke fine with the group, but he just dropped back. If there is anything I would change is maybe not be quite as far back. He's got a great running style. He's very relaxed. He's very easy to ride. You can move him in or out, wherever he wants to go. What I really learned about him is that his class is kind of coming out and he's really improving. I'm really excited about this race."

Thursday, May 16 -- Trainer Tom Amoss and the gray colt went in different directions Wednesday in their respective journeys from Churchill Downs to Pimlico Race Course.

Amoss headed south to his home state to attend the graduation of his daughter, Ashley, from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, while the fifth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby was flown from Louisville, Ky., to Baltimore for the Preakness.

The college graduation season and the Triple Crown often produce personal and professional conflicts. For Amoss and Mylute, the schedule of events has worked out nicely. Amoss will be able to handle all of his commitments and still be at Pimlico in plenty of time to saddle the colt for the 138th Preakness, which has a post time of 6:20 p.m. Saturday.

The 280th LSU commencement will be held Thursday afternoon and Ashley’s diploma ceremony at the Manship School of Mass Communication is on Friday afternoon. The Amoss family will celebrate the graduation Friday evening and Amoss, his wife, Colleen, Ashley and younger daughter, Hayley, will fly from New Orleans to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport Saturday morning.

"Although the Preakness is something I'm very proud of in terms of my professional life, nothing makes me prouder on a personal level than my daughter graduating from college," he said. "That comes first."

Todd Quast, the general manager and trainer at GoldMark Farm, which co-owns the colt with Whisper Hill Farm, works closely with Amoss and is at Pimlico with Amoss' staff.

"Tom ships horses all around," Quast said. "This is obviously a bigger race than most that you ship off to, but his crew is very comfortable with that."

Quast said there never was a question about how Amoss would handle the schedule this week.

"Family is first," he said. "His daughter is graduating from LSU. He graduated from LSU. His wife graduated from LSU. I think he would have been disowned if he wouldn't have gone.

"And this horse is so relaxed, so easy going, that it was really a non-issue. I told him, 'Go. We're fine.'"

Quast said that Mylute, runner-up to Revolutionary in the Louisiana Derby (G2), was calm throughout the trip from Kentucky and has settled in at Pimlico, the seventh track he will race over in his 11-month career.

"He handled it; didn't turn a hair," Quast said. "There were horses that came off a little hotter, a little sweatier. If he did, it would be a big thing because he is so laid back. He is the consummate professional horse. His demeanor off the track is what you would want. He eats, sleeps and nothing bothers him. It's a perfect type of situation."

Mylute went to the track with exercise rider Maurice Sanchez at 6 a.m. Thursday to jog a mile and gallop 1 1/4 miles.

"He looked around and said, 'All right, I'm home.'" Quast said. "He handled it very, very well. He's very seasoned and very relaxed wherever he goes. He handled it super, had good energy, came off the track good and cooled out good."

Rated second in the morning line at 5-1, Mylute, who drew the No. 5 post position, will be ridden by Rosie Napravnik.

Wednesday, May 15 -- GoldMark Farm and Whisper Hill Farm’s Mylute jogged a mile shortly after the track opened at Churchill Downs Wednesday morning before boarding a plane bound for Baltimore.

"He got new shoes yesterday and jogged a mile this morning, so we are good to go," said trainer Tom Amoss, whose Kentucky Derby fifth-place finisher had worked a half-mile in 49 3/5 seconds Monday and walked on Tuesday.

Tuesday, May 14 -- GoldMark Farm and Whisper Hill Farm's fifth-place Kentucky Derby runner Mylute walked the shedrow at Barn 29 at Churchill Downs a day after working a half-mile in 49 3/5 seconds.

"He came out of the work good and will jog in the morning," trainer Tom Amoss said.

Monday, May 13 -- GoldMark Farm and Whisper Hill Farm's Mylute, the fifth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, worked a half-mile in 49 3/5 seconds over a fast surface at Churchill Downs shortly after the track opened for training at 6 a.m.

Working on his own and with jockey Rosie Napravnik up, Mylute jogged once around and then galloped once around with a pony before producing fractions of :12 4/5, :24 4/5 and galloping out five furlongs in 1:04 2/5. The half-mile time was the 20th fastest of 40 recorded at the distance for the morning.

"It was a good breeze and the track was in excellent shape," trainer Tom Amoss said. "This was similar to what he did before the Kentucky Derby but just a bit faster, and I hope that is a product of him being ready to roll."